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If you have a problem in your own country, going international probably isn't the solution. Jasmine read that on LinkedIn and nodded — because too many people are running from something that will simply follow them.

In this episode of The Common Room, Joshua sits down with Jasmine, an educator entering her twelfth year in international education, with teaching and leadership experience across Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Malaysia. She began as an English teacher in Hong Kong, became Head of English and joined the senior leadership team, then moved to the UK before continuing to Malaysia, where she has recently stepped into the role of Assistant Head of Primary. She navigates this path as half of a teaching couple.

Together, they flip the question most conversations about international education never ask: not why you should go, but whether you should at all — and what separates those who thrive from those who simply relocate their problems to a new postcode.

In this conversation, we cover:

• Walking into a UK staff room after seven years in Hong Kong, and why the sound of people actually talking to each other felt strange
• Why "read with the children" means something completely different depending on where you learned to teach, and what that moment with her TA revealed
• Gordon Ramsay in a dim sum kitchen, and why his skills weren't wrong, just not what that environment demanded
• The prep school offer she turned down because her husband didn't get a position, and what making one decision for two careers actually takes
• "The school gives you a job. The city gives you a life." — the question she wishes someone had told her to ask before signing
• Why cultural awareness isn't something you learn in a training session, and the Pride and Prejudice problem behind most misunderstandings in international schools

A huge thank you to Jasmine for her honesty, her warmth, and for reminding us that running towards something is always more powerful than running away from it.

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The Common Room is hosted by Joshua Darryl Sussex — it is an independent project, produced in a personal capacity and outside of any professional or institutional role. Views expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not represent any employer, university, or organisation. No guest, organisation, or product featured has paid for or provided any consideration for their appearance.

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